Household Device Comprising Locking and Counter-Locking Means

ABSTRACT

A household device comprising a first housing part which comprises at least one locking means and a second housing part which comprises at least one counter-locking means. The locking and counter-locking means are used to join the housing parts and are provided with safety means which secure the at least one locking element from detaching from the at least one counter-locking element. The aim of the invention is to simplify mounting of the housing parts, comprising said type of locking device, for the producer. The safety means comprise at least one connecting means forming a force fit.

The invention relates to a household device comprising a first housing part which comprises at least one locking means and a second housing part which comprises at least one counter-locking means, which locking means and counter-locking means are used to join the housing parts and are provided with safety means which secure the at least one locking means from detaching from the at least one counter-locking means.

Known from DE 101 42 508 A1 is a detent device for fixing a first body which can be inserted into a second body, whereby the first wall of the first body extends substantially at right angles to a second wall of the second body, comprising a detent projection which is located on an inner side of the first wall that is encircled by the second body and that can be pushed into a detent opening by a force exerted by a joining means that is joined to the first body. A screw which prevents detachment of detent means from the counter-detent means is provided as a safety means for each joining of a detent and counter-detent means.

However, a disadvantage with the detent device according to the prior art is that, on the one hand, the mounting of the housing parts or the joining of the locking and counter-locking means is expensive for the manufacturer and on the other hand, undesirable, in particular, non-destructive dismounting by the end user can be achieved in a simple manner.

It is the object of the invention to simplify the mounting of the housing parts with a generic locking device for the manufacturer. Furthermore, undesirable dismounting, for example, by the end user should be made more difficult or detectable.

Dismantling in a non-destructive manner should preferably be possible for the joining of the locking and counter-locking means and in a destructive manner for the safety means.

This object is achieved according to the invention by the safety means comprising at least one connecting means forming a force fit.

As a result of the formation of the connecting means as a force fit, the safety means is activated by the engaging joining together of the housing parts, i.e. the connecting means are joined. In the joined-together position of the first and second housing part, the locking means are engaged with the counter-locking means. The locking means are prevented from detaching from the counter-locking means whereby once the connecting means have been joined together by the fixed force fit, they cannot be released again without being destroyed. The connecting means which have been joined together hold the two housing parts together in such a manner that the locking means cannot be detached from the counter-locking means. The two housing parts can then only be separated if the connecting means is destroyed. Once the connecting means or the plurality of connecting means have been destroyed, in one embodiment of the invention the locking means can be separated from the counter-locking means without destroying them. This has the advantage that after separation, two housing parts which have been joined together can be joined together anew and the locking means which have remained intact in cooperation with the counter-locking means which have remained intact can reliably hold the two housing halves together again even if the function of the safety means is no longer ensured. This circumstance makes it possible to re-use housing parts once these have been dismantled without needing to replace them by new housing parts.

Alternatively however, it can also be provided that the locking and the counter-locking means are configured so that they are destroyed when an attempt is made to separate the two housing parts again. This prevents housing parts whose safety means have already been destroyed from being re-used. The housing halves cannot be held together without functional locking means and counter-locking means. It is thus ensured that after any dismantling of the housing, new housing halves are always used.

Either a single connecting means can be provided between the first and second housing part or a plurality of connecting means can be provided. The at least one connecting means can preferably comprise a pin provided on the first housing part which is pressed into a pin receptacle provided on the second housing part. The pressed-in fit of the pin in the pin receptacle provides a non-positive connection. Any suitably shaped elongated extended means which can be inserted in a body, i.e. in the pin receptacle so that this means is held firmly as a result of the frictional force between the outer surface of the elongated means and the inner surface of the body can be considered to be a pin. Commonly used means are press pins which are pressed into a hub.

The pin preferably has a circular cross-section and the pin-receptacle has a hollow-cylindrical inner wall. The largest possible contact surface between pin and pin receptacle is thus provided with the smallest overall size of pin and pin receptacle. However, the pin can also have other cross-sectional shapes such as, for example, a triangular, square, rectangular or star-shaped cross-section. The pin receptacle is constructed so as to conform to the cross-section of the relevant pin and can thus also have a triangular, square, rectangular or star-shaped contour.

For an adequate force fit, the cross-section of the pin is slightly larger than the allocated cross-section of the pin receptacle. The circular cross-section of the pin thus has a slightly larger diameter than the hollow cylindrical inner wall of the pin receptacle.

The pin receptacle is advantageously formed by tubular attachments on an inner wall of the second housing part. If the housing is made of plastic, the pins or the pin receptacles can be formed on their respective allocated housing parts. The forming is preferably effected cost-effectively by a plastic injection moulding method. However, the pins and pin receptacles can also be moulded-on, or glued-on or soldered-on, or welded-on subsequently. Soldering or welding can be used in particular if the housing parts are made of metal or aluminium.

The pin preferably has a stop which abuts against a counter-stop element on the pin receptacle when the first housing part and the second housing part are in a mounted state. The stop and counter-stop ensure that the housing parts are mounted at a predetermined distance with respect to one another. In particular, it is ensured that during a joining process of the housing parts, the base area in the interior of the pin receptacle does not press against the free end of the pin. The pin thus remains free from axial compressive forces and the base area in the interior of the pin receptacle is not pressed from inside to outside by the pin, which would make visually unattractive deformations visible on the plastic housing parts.

The stop can be formed by a frustro-conical expansion of the diameter of the pin. In this connection, the counter-stop element is preferably a hollow frustro-conical narrowing of the diameter of the pin receptacle. Stop and counter-stop element thereby form a conical seat between pin and pin receptacle which ensures a secure and centred fit of the pin in the pin receptacle.

A separate connecting means can be allocated to each locking means and counter-locking means. At lease one single connecting means should be allocated to each locking and counter-locking means. However, two or more connecting means can also be allocated to each joining of locking and counter-locking means. Only in exceptional cases, can it be sufficient to provide fewer connecting means than joins of locking and counter-locking means.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the first housing part and the second housing part are two shell-like housing halves of a rod mixer or hand stirrer. In this case, preferably six joins of locking and counter-locking means are provided with respectively one allocated connecting means. In each case, two joins of locking and counter-locking means are provided at an upper end of the rod mixer. In each case, two further joins of locking and counter-locking means are provided at a lower end of the rod mixer. The last two of the six joins of the locking and counter-locking means are provided approximately at mid-height of the rod mixer. The locking means can be embodied, for example, as elastic flexible tongues which have openings into which counter-locking means embodied as locating hooks engage. For example, two or three parallel openings can be provided on a flexible tongue into which a corresponding number of two or three locating hooks engage.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in detail hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a safety means according to the invention for a join of a locking and counter-locking means;

FIG. 2 shows two housing halves of a rod mixer with six safety means for joining allocated locking and counter-locking means similar to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows a section of a first housing part 1 in perspective view. One edge 2 of the first housing part 1 bears a sealing step 3 which extends along the edge. A pin 5 is formed on an inner wall 4 of the first housing part 1. The pin 5 has a base part 6 moulded onto the inner wall 4 of the first housing part 1. The base part 6 is adjoined by a frustro-conical stop 7. The end face of the frustro-conical stop 7 having the larger diameter is directed towards the base part 6 and the end face of the frustro-conical stop 7 having the smaller diameter is directed towards a free end 8 of the pin 5. A locking means 9 is provided close to the pin 5. The locking means 9 is moulded onto the inner wall 4 of the first housing part 1. The locking means 9 is embodied as tongue-shaped and is preferably provided with a rectangular contour. The locking means 9 has three openings 10 which run parallel at a distance from one another. One free end of the locking means 9 has a bevelled transverse edge 11.

A second housing part 12 has a second edge 13 which bears a second sealing step 14 corresponding to the sealing step 3 of the first housing part 1. Three counter-locking means 16 located parallel at a distance from one another are provided on an inner wall 15 of the second housing part 12. The counter-locking means 16 are formed so that they correspond to the openings 10 on the locking means 9. A pin receptacle 17 is moulded on the inner wall 15. The pin receptacle is embodied as tubular and bears a frustro-conical counter-stop element 18 at its front free end. The surface of the counter-stop element 18 is configured so as to conform to the surface of the stop 7.

FIG. 2 shows two housing halves of a rod mixer. The first housing part 1 has six locking means 9 and six pins 5. Two locking means 9 a are provided on one upper end of the rod mixer. Respectively two further locking means 9 b are provided at a lower end of the rod mixer. The last two of the six locking means 9 c are provided approximately at mid-height of the rod mixer. The locking means are embodied as elastic flexible tongues which have openings 10. A pin 5 a is allocated to each of the two locking means 9 a. A pin 5 b is allocated to each of the two locking means 9 b. A pin 5 c is allocated to each of the two locking means 9 c.

The second housing part 12 has six counter-locking means 16 and six pin receptacles 17. Two counter-locking means 16 a are provided on an upper end of the rod mixer. Respectively two further counter-locking means 16 b are provided at a lower end of the rod mixer. The last two of the six counter-locking means 16 c are provided approximately at mid-height of the rod mixer. The locking means are embodied as elastic flexible tongues which have openings 10.

A pin receptacle 17 a is allocated to each of the two counter-locking means 16 a. A pin receptacle 17 b is allocated to each of the two counter-locking means 16 b. A pin receptacle 17 c is allocated to each of the two counter-locking means 16 c.

When the first housing part 1 and the second housing part 12 are in the mounted state, the pins 5 a are inserted in the pin receptacles 17 a. The pins 5 b are inserted in the pin receptacles 17 b and the pins 5 c are inserted in the pin receptacles 17 c. In this case, the locking means 9 a engage in the openings 10 of the counter-locking means 16 a, the locking means 9 b engage in the openings 10 of the counter-locking means 16 b and the locking means 9 c engage in the openings 10 of the counter-locking means 16 c. 

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A household device comprising a first housing part which comprises at least one locking means and a second housing part which comprises at least one counter-locking means, which locking means and counter-locking means are used to join the housing parts and are provided with safety means which secure the at least one locking means from detaching from the at least one counter-locking means, wherein the safety means comprise at least one connecting means forming a force fit.
 12. The household device according to claim 11, wherein the at least one connecting means comprises a pin provided on the first housing part, which is pressed into a pin receptacle provided on the second housing part.
 13. The household device according to claim 12, wherein the pin has a circular cross-section and the pin-receptacle has a hollow-cylindrical inner wall.
 14. The household device according to claim 13, wherein the circular cross-section of the pin has a slightly larger diameter than the hollow cylindrical inner wall of the pin receptacle.
 15. The household device according to claim 12, wherein the pin receptacle is formed by tubular attachments on an inner wall of the second housing part.
 16. The household device according to claim 12, wherein the pin has a stop which abuts against a counter-stop element on the pin receptacle when first housing part and second housing part are in a mounted state.
 17. The household device according to claim 16, wherein the stop is formed by a frustro-conical expansion of the diameter of the pin.
 18. The household device according to claim 16, wherein the counter-stop element is a hollow frustro-conical narrowing of the diameter of the pin receptacle.
 19. The household device according to claim 11, wherein a separate non-positive connecting means is allocated to each locking means and counter-locking means.
 20. The household device according to claim 11, wherein the first housing part and the second housing part are two shell-like housing halves of a rod mixer or hand stirrer. 